Lost - "The Variable"

Hello all. First off, I am writing this post on my blackberry at work because we were all just told to work much slower (no, seriously!), and therefore can't create links like normal (or so I believe. There's probably some way to do it, but I have no clue what it is.). I'll try to add them later at home, but for now, remember to use the links in my last post for "Some Like it Hoth" for Doc Jensen and Erika's recaps of that episode. It's been two weeks since our last trip to the Island, so getting a refresher is always good.
As I said in my last review, I found "Some Like it Hoth" to be a nice diversion, a sweet trifle of humor before the end run of drama in the last four hours of the season. Yes, we did get some interesting info: we got Phil finding out about Sawyer and Kate taking away Little Ben, and Roger being suspicious of Kate. We got the Miles and Dr. Chang relationship, and some context for the Swan. Most importantly, though, we got Faraday back! I believe his return will be the impetus for this week's episode, "The Variable.". Here's my thoughts:
*It seems to be apparent (from math, science and the thesaurus) that "The Variable" is a counterpoint to "The Constant," the all-time great episode from Season 4 featuring Desmond mind-tripping through time. As we know, and Faraday explained, "The Constant" referred to the anchor one needs to stop the mind from bouncing through time. For Desmond, it was Penny, and for Faraday, it is Desmond. As Faraday told Desmond that he is "special" as it pertains to time and the Island, I am inclined to believe that Desmond is "The Variable," meaning he is the only one that can change the past. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean Desmond will know this/find this out/be in this episode. It could just be that Faraday will determine that a Variable exists, and that it is Desmond.
*I think this will be a Faraday flashback episode with him flashing back to his time from 1974-1977 in Ann Arbor with the Dhara Initiative. We could possibly see how he gets that opportunity after he, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin and Miles fell in with Dharma after Locke got the Frozen Donkey Wheel back on track. We could also possibly see, for the first time, the DeGroots, founders of the Initiative.
*The proverbial stuff is about to hit the fan with Sawyer knocking out Phil. It will be interesting to see if Jack continues to defer to Sawyer, or if the new Jack will revert to his old ways. I believe a fully realized Jack Shephard is a leader, so I hope we see him take charge, but working in concert with Sawyer, and not against him.
*How will Sawyer and Juliet react to losing the life they created the last three years? Methinks, at first, not well, but once they hear from Faraday that they can get back to the present and see their loved ones (Sawyer's daughter Clementine and Juliet's sister and nephew), their attitude will change.
*Will we see more of Locke, Ben and Sun? What about what lies in the shadow of the statue? If we do get to see Ilana and Bram, I think a connection between Faraday's work with Dharma and orders for Ilana et al from a reconstituted Dharma will be established. As I said in my last post, I do believe Ilana's group has been sent by a revitalized Dharma, so showing that link would likely make sense in this upcoming episode.
That's about all I have for now. I'm really looking forward to this episode, mostly based on the awsomeness of "The Constant," which is probably unfair. I'm trying to enter with as clear a brain as possible, as we are likely to get a heaping helping of physics, time travel, and other mind-bending stuff. This will be the catalyst for the season-end run, so I'm leaving expectations behind and allowing myself to get caught up in whatever is thrown at me. It will probably take a couple days to get my thoughts on the episode up because I'll probably have to watch it twice to understand it all! Until then...
Enjoy.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Lost - "Some Like it Hoth," Ctd

Sorry for the delay in getting my thoughts on the most recent episode of Lost, "Some Like it Hoth." As I explained below, I actually have some employment for a couple weeks, so it's been hard to get posts up. Anyway, I don't have that much to say about this episode. I really liked the episode, but it was just a "fun" episode, and not one that asked a lot of questions. It was the calm before the storm of the last four hours of the season (!). Anyway, here we go:

*As most people thought after seeing the season premiere, Miles is in fact Dr. Pierre Chang's son. Chang seemed to be a loving father, so the question is why did Miles' mother take Miles to Encino. Did Chang learn of the Purge and send them away, or does he become a bigger, as Hurley put it, "douche?"

*Interesting that Miles needs the body to present to communicate with the dead. So, how did he do it with the kid who had the money stashed in his bedroom? Maybe the body just needs to exist somewhere and not necessarily in Miles' presence. This would fit with why he couldn't communicate with the football player who had been cremated.

*Yes, the Ewoks do suck.

*I love the Hurley/Miles banter. It's really well written and the actors pull it off great. Jorge Garcia was on fire in this episode, delivering not only the jokes, but the heartfelt moments well. His goading father and son to chat over some Dharma beer was brilliant.

*Now we know where the 3.2 million dollars Miles requested of Ben in Season 4 came from. Widmore was paying him 1.6 million to capture Ben, so he asked for double to not follow through. I love when the show answers stuff like this.

*Bram. Hmmmmm......Seems like a meathead, albeit a hippie meathead. His telling Miles that he [Miles] will not be self-realized unless he helps Bram's group has put me in the camp of those who believe Ilana, Bram and Co. are from Dharma Initiative 2.0. They obviously don't work for Widmore, and Ben's interactions with Ilana didn't give me any reason to think they work for him. I think we'll be hearing "Namaste" again soon.

*I liked Jack covering for Kate, and then going to tell Sawyer what happened. And Sawyer seemed truly grateful. I want them to work together to help get everyone home, so hopefully this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

*Faraday! Finally! I have been harping on this for a while. He had quickly became one of my favorite characters, and I wanted to see more of him. Well, we finally got him back. Seems that Faraday was off working in Ann Arbor for Dharma HQ for the past three years. What was he doing there? Was he figuring out a way to get his friends back to the present? Can't wait to hear what he has to say in the next episode, "The Variable."

That was pretty much all I have for this episode. I am very psyched for this Wednesday because "The Variable" is supposed to be a counterpoint to probably the best non-Pilot episode of Lost, "The Constant." But, more on that in my preview on Tuesday.

Don't forget to read Erika and Doc's reviews of "Some Like it Hoth." Until Tuesday...

Namaste.

Lost - Uh Oh

Yes, I owe you my thoughts on "Some Like It Hoth." Yes, I haven't posted in ten days. For this, I apologize. I actually went back to work this week. Before anyone gets too happy for me, it's a temporary project, which will probably be over next week. I will try to get my thoughts on the most recent episode of Lost up tomorrow night.

Anyway, I wanted to quickly link you all to this. Henry Ian Cusick, who plays Desmond Hume on Lost, has been charged (along with ABC and the production company) with sexual harassment of a female employee. Obviously, I have no idea if the allegations are true. As the alleged victim (I call her "alleged" not because I don't think it didn't happen, just because, technically, until he is found guilty, the charges are alleged) brought her complaint to the appropriate employment committee and supposedly complained to ABC and producers of the show, it seems to be a pretty solid case. If Mr. Cusick is found guilty, what does this mean for the show?

Desmond is the favorite character of many fans of Lost. In fact, he has been positioned as, possibly, THE linchpin of the series. As Faraday pointed out in the season premiere "Because You Left," Desmond is "special," and may be the only one who can actually change the past. Would the writers/producers really kill off Desmond to get rid of the distraction of the trial (assuming that it wasn't already planned for him to die anyway)? I mean, ABC will fight this vigorously, which would kind of put the show in the clear for a while. Perhaps through filming of all or most of the final season? We shall see. We'll probably get a good idea what the strategy will be when ABC, Cusick and Grass Skirt make statements, assumedly on Monday or soon thereafter. Ugh. What a problem.

Who would have thought Lost and the law would come to a head again, and so soon?

Lost - "Some Like it Hoth"

Tonight brings us our last new Lost episode for the next two weeks, "Some Like it Hoth." There are two movie references in the title, although I don't know which would necessarily be more obvious. To most Lost fans, I guess the reference to Hoth would be. For those not in the know, Hoth is one of the planets in the cinematic classic, The Empire Strikes Back. I got this reference, but my first thought was the other cinematic classic, Some Like it Hot, the Marilyn Monroe-Tony Curtis-Jack Lemmon comedy. This may be the funniest movie of all time. And don't take my word for it, the American Film Institute says so too! Now, I seriously doubt Lost will be referencing a movie about men dressing as women and joining an all-woman band to avoid the mob. But, hey, ya never know.

What we do know, is that tonight's episode will center on Miles and his conversations with the dead. Which dead bodies will he be talking to tonight? No idea. According to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the episode is more of a "fun" episode than one that will drastically move the plot forward; kind of like most of the Hurley-centric episodes. Essentially, they wanted to investigate Miles' backstory, and knew they could have some fun with our wise-cracking corpse whisperer. Obviously, with only a limited number of hours left to tell the remaining story of Lost, every episode has to move the story forward, so we will get some movement. I just think the balance will be a little less drama, and a little more fun.

In the parts that do move the story forward, here's what I'm looking for:

*Where the heck is Faraday?!?!? I know I keep harping on this, but he was such a big part of the beginning of this season, and he has all but disappeared. Get the Island's Doc Brown back on the screen please!

*I think from the preview of tonight's episode from last week (I only watch the preview once at the end of the episode I'm watching, then I stick my fingers in my ears and close my eyes for the next week whenever a commercial comes on), Miles makes a reference to the Purge. Will he warn Dharmaville proper of what's coming in 15 years or so?

*Now the Ben has been judged, and told in no uncertain terms to follow Locke, will we see the fruits of this new partnership? What are Locke's plans for reuniting with the folks in Dharmaville?

*I don't think we'll see it tonight, but if we do, what is the deal with Ilana and her group? Are they more mercenaries sent by Widmore? Could he have mobilized folks that quickly upon hearing from Ben that Ben was "going back to the Island tonight"? But we saw Ilana arrest Sayid, presumably, the night before Ben's phone call. What is going on here?

*Will Roger wonder where Little Ben is? How do the Lostaways explain Little Ben's whereabouts?

*What will the Star Wars reference be? I assume the title will be spoken by either Mile or Hurley, and more likely the former in some flashback as a funny quip.

I don't have many expectations going into the episode because of it's alleged subject-matter. I have enjoyed Miles' wit in the past, and have lamented it's disappearance in recent episodes, so hopefully we'll get a big helping tonight. Hopefully I'm wrong and we'll get a gobs of plot forwarding, but if not, I'm sure we'll all have a good time tonight. We better, because we're going to have to wait two weeks for our next taste. Until then...

Enjoy.

Update: Don't forget to read the recaps for last week's episode. Here's Doc's, Erika's, and mine.

Lost - "Dead Is Dead," Ctd

OK, mini-recap time. I thought this was a pretty good episode, as all Ben-centric episodes are. I had ONE problem with the episode, but more on that below. There was a lot in this episode, so this post may be a bit longer than normal, so away we go, somewhat how the episode unfolded:

*One question from last week's episode, "What Happened, Happened," was what exactly did Richard mean when taking the injured Little Ben about Ben "not having any memory of this." Would Ben not remember the injury, or more of his past? At first, I thought this was answered pretty plainly when Little Ben asked the young (and dashing!) Charles Widmore what happened to him [Ben]. He clearly didn't remember how he was injured, but he did reference his father when protesting that he didn't want to return to Dharmaville. However, later in the episode, adult Ben, upon seeing the Dharma Class of 1977 photo, asked if Jack, Kate and Hurley were in the Dharma Initiative, not remembering them from his past. Now granted, I'm 31, and really don't remember that much from when I was 13 or so. Then again, I do remember people I spent every day of my life with at that time. Then again again, Jack, Kate and Hurley were only back in Dharmaville for a couple of days when Little Ben was shot and taken to the Temple. I guess I'm still as confused as I was before.

*I took pretty much everything Ben said in this episode as telling the truth (an absolutely ridiculous position to take, I know). I think he was really surprised Locke was alive despite his belief he would be "resurrected." This was a nice allusion to his telling of the Doubting Thomas story in "316." Further, I believe he did think he was going to be judged for Alex's death, although he may have had alternative reasons for heading back to the Island (to gain back his position of power). And I think Ben is actually sorry for shooting Desmond (see below). Why else blurt this out to Sun as he was about to meet Smokey?

*I LOVED how Ben dealt with Caesar by sowing seeds of doubt about Locke. Well, what I really liked was Michael Emerson's delivery of these lines by deftly making the manipulation blatant to us, but not so much that it would be unbelievable Caesar would listen to him and not be wary. Lost will probably never win another Emmy, as it has probably become too weird for Emmy voters, but should it ever be so lucky, Michael Emerson should definitely win. Oh, and for what it's worth, I really don't think Caesar is dead. Great scene though: was Lost making fun of John McCain's constant use of "my friends?" You be the judge!

*If there was anything that we learned about Ben this week, it is that he has a soft spot for mothers and children. Obviously, mothers and children have been a major thrust of the series (e.g. Claire/Aaron/Kate; Sun/Ji Yeoh; Rousseau/Alex; Mothers dying while pregnant; Ben/Mrs. Linus, Juliet's raison d'etre), but the fact that Ben was so motivated by the fact that he never knew his mother was still somewhat surprising to me. He was motivated enough to disobey a direct order from Widmore, the leader of the people that "saved" him. However, this ended up being the challenge to Widmore that heralded Ben's replacement of Widmore as head of the Others. By the way, nice parallel to Locke's later challenge to Ben's leadership of the Others, epitomized by the fabulous direction of Locke sitting in Ben's chair and kicking up his feet on Ben's desk. Having studied directing (albeit theater directing), I love stuff like this. It's subtle, but it shows Locke's displacement of Ben, which was later hammered home when Alex appeared to Ben and told him in no uncertain terms that Locke was the leader now and that Ben must be obedient. Brilliant! This must have really stung Ben, as he admitted to not being able to follow someone else.

*The whole calling of Smokey scene at Ben's house had some interesting stuff going on. First, what are Locke's ideas for getting folks in Dharmaville back to the present? Sun was certainly interested to hear, and so was I for that matter. What was with the drain stopper Ben released to "call" Smokey? It didn't really seem to do anything as Smokey was under the Temple. Weird. Weirder, where did Locke go off to in the woods? To actually call Smokey? It did lead to probably the best line of the episode: in telling Sun to wait in the house, Ben stated that was about to come out of the woods was "something that I can't control." Then out came Locke! Great stuff.

*Fantastic to see Desmond again, if only for a minute. Now, Doc Jensen has questioned how Desmond survived the "point blank shooting" administered by Ben. I didn't think this was that hard to believe. The milk that exploded from the bullet was clearly covering Desmond's right arm. Then, when Desmond pummels Ben, he does so only with his left hand, and only gingerly uses his right to throw Ben in the water. Did the Island mess with Ben's shot? Probably, as we've been told the Island isn't "done" with Desmond yet. But, I don't think we need to get into a tizzy about how Des could have survived.

*Ilana clearly has a crew, and clearly wanted to be on the Island. Methinks arresting Sayid was just a reason to be on the plane. Likely, she also knew that Oceanic 815 needed to be reconstructed as close to possible, and that Ajira 316 was going to go through the appropriate window. As far as "what lies in the shadow of the statue?" I have no idea. It did make me think of one of the best lines in the movie Ghostbusters: 'Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say 'Yes!'" I am very interested to see what Ilana has planned.

*OK, there I was, totally enjoying the episode. Ben starts getting engulfed by Smokey, and then, all of a sudden, the CHEESIEST EFFECTS EVER happened. I don't know if they didn't have time, or it was a director's decision or what, but the flashbacks looked absolutely ridiculous. Where were the flashes Mr. Eko saw? It just totally pulled me out of what was going on. That was one of the biggest "fails" I have seen on the show. Still better than Nikki and Paolo though.

Quick stuff:

*What kind of aesthetician did the Others have in the jungle? Between Widmore's flowing locks in 1977, Richard's guy-liner and well-coiffed head of hair (except as seen in Season 3's "The Man Behind the Curtain." Are we ever going to get an explanation of why Richard looked so, well, dirty?), I expected to see a salon chair or two in camp. And where did they get a horse?

*We did learn that the whispers do come from the Others, and are somewhat of a warning.

*Was that the "Hurley" bird stuffed behind Ben's desk? I think so.

*Locke told Sun not to worry, that he was "the same man I have always been." As if that is supposed to somehow assure her!

*Any irony that Penny named her son the same name that her despised father has? I know, I know, Charlie Hume is named for Charlie Pace, but isn't it ironic? Dontcha think?

*Interesting tidbit that all we have seen is the wall protecting the Temple, and not the Temple itself. I assume (and hope) we will see it at some point. Ben said that "we" built the wall to protect the Temple. By "we" does he mean literally he was involved? If so, why all the hieroglyphics and aged look to the wall? Or did he just mean "we" as in the royal we = the Others in general?

*There was a depiction of Smokey with the Egyptian god Anubis. I initially assumed the depiction was one of partnership -- Smokey helping Anubis usher the dead to the Underworld. This would make sense as we saw the full Anubis statue in "LaFleur," and all of the hieroglyphics around/under the Temple, near the Frozen Donkey Wheel, and on the door in Ben's secret room in his house. When I rewatched the episode, it seemed possible that the picture showed Smokey in opposition to Anubis. Not exactly sure what that would mean, but just throwing out the possibility.

Anyway, that's all for now. Again, I thought it was a pretty great episode, with a whole hunk of information. We have a new episode this Wednesday, "Some Like it Hoth." This will be a Miles-centric episode. Then there is no new episode on April 22. Boo! I'll be back tomorrow or Wednesday with a preview of "Some Like it Hoth." As always, read Erika and Doc Jensen's recaps for much more insight.

Namaste.

Lost and the Law Meet! I Don't Know What to Do With Myself!

Hello everyone. Before I post on the most recent episode, let me speak on something that actually brings my love of Lost and my training as an intellectual property lawyer together. As you have seen from my Lost posts and the blog roll on the right, I always refer you to Erika Olson's fantastic recaps over at Long Live Locke. Well, a guy by the name of Seanie B has been offering video recaps on You Tube of this season's episodes, apparently for TV Guide (I'm not going to link directly to his You Tube account because I don't want this guy getting any more popular). Seanie B has been blatantly plagiarizing Erika's recaps, as well as other Lost recappers. You can see the clear copyright violation in this side-by-side comparison provided by Doc Arzt.

Essentially, Erika's recaps are fixed (on the website) expressions (written communications) that have a modicum of creativity (the words she chooses are sufficient creativity, but I would venture to say her wit and humor is the true creativity). Those are the elements of a work that is protected under copyright. A coyright holder has the right to control other uses of her work, including, specifically, the right to a public performance of her work. In other words, she can control any oral recitations of her writings on a You Tube post.

Now, the facts of the show can be freely discussed by all. If Erika writes, "Ben allowed Alex to be killed by Keamy," I can also write, "Ben allowed Alex to be killed by Keamy." Facts are not protected by copyright. As well, anyone who talks about Lost and dares to write about it (your humble blogger included) can speak about the ideas behind the show. Ideas are not protected by copyright; it is the expression of those ideas that is protected. Any kind of flourish Erika uses to express her thought about the ideas behind the show, where she thinks the show is headed, and even the layout/order she talks about the show is all protected. That is what Seanie B has stolen from her. Fortunately, Erika has said she has been receiving some great advice from some intellectual property lawyers and is working hard to have the matter resolved.

Folks, if you love the show, you should absolutely talk about it, but do so in your own words. There is so much within the show to talk about that we don't need to steal other people's work. And read Erika's posts to show your support! Recap coming soon.

Lost - "Dead Is Dead"

Tonight brings us the Ben-centric episode "Dead Is Dead." When last we saw the adult Benjamin Linus in "What Happened, Happened," he was looking pretty frightened with a resurrected Locke watching him recuperate from Sun's oar to the head. Last we saw Little Ben, Richard was taking him, dying, into The Temple to bring him back to health. As we have been getting flashbacks recently, I imagine we will be getting a heaping taste of Island mythology through Ben's flashbacks to when he was recovering form the gunshot wound (which is really the present for the O6 and Left Behinders) after visiting The Temple and his time with The Hostiles. Other things I'm looking forward to seeing tonight:

*This awkward conversation:

LOCKE: So...uh....you, like, killed me. What's up with that?

BEN: Yeah, about that. See I was shot a long time ago, and it made me a jackass, but also branded me as the Island's chosen one. Then you came along and screwed that all up. You know, just trying to regain my rightful seat at the head of the Island's table.

LOCKE: Ohhhhhhh-kay....

*Come to think of it, there is an interesting parallel between Ben getting shot in the stomach, and living, and Locke getting shot in the stomach (by Ben), and living. Perhaps this has something do with being the preferred protector of the Island?

*Sun? Lapidus? you guys still around?

*From the preview after last week's episode, it appears we will see Ben go to the marina, from which he called Jack all bloodied and bruised in "316." We have to assume that he went to kill off Penny, who was floating around in a houseboat with Desmond and Charlie (Hume, not Pace) upon their arrival in L.A. Additionally, Ben said in "316" that he needed to make good on "a promise to an old friend," which I assumed was when he told Widmore he would kill Penny for Keamy killing Alex. Further, Damon and Carlton implied on last week's podcast that we would be seeing Desmond this week. It's about time!

*Where the hell is Faraday?

*Who is going to speak the title dialogue tonight? I imagine it will be during a Ben-Locke conversation, but I have no idea who will say it.

I'm ready for quite a ride this week. I've been eagerly anticipating some leaps forward in the past couple episodes, but haven't received them. We all know Ben is the biggest catalyst on the show, so for tonight's episode to focus on him, I think I'll finally get what I've been craving. I'm ready for it, although I'm going to have to wait an additional hour, or so, to watch it because I have a fantasy baseball draft tonight (nice scheduling guys!). I'm sure "Dead Is Dead" will be worth the wait.

Enjoy.

Lost - "What Happened, Happened," Ctd

Hello all. I know I said it once. Then I said it again. I really thought the gas pedal was going to be hammered to the floor with last week's episode, "What Happened, Happened," and the season was going to take off. Again, we got a nice episode, with some interesting things, but still moving at a relatively slow pace. These last three episodes ("Namaste," "He's Our You" and now "What Happened, Happened") are still infinitely better than most of Season 2, but still, I was a little disappointed. My thoughts:

*Overall, Evangeline Lilly was incredible in this episode. As I have mentioned in the last couple episodes, the acting has been fantastic (Sawyer, Sayid, Jack, Juliet, etc.), it's just the pace of the stories that has been a little lacking. Regardless, Evangeline was utterly fantastic. Some of the best work she's done on the series, and certainly better than this.

*Kind of figured that Sawyer had asked Kate to find Clementine in the Season 4 finale. Was surprised she told Cassidy the truth about Oceanic 815. And was more surprised that Cassidy didn't tell the authorities, leading to Aaron being taken away from Kate. Once we realized Cassidy wasn't running to the cops (or the closest TV camera), I figured Kate was going to leave Aaron with Cassidy. Not the case either. Then I thought Aaron was really going to have been taken in the grocery store. Not so. As we now know, Aaron ended up with his grandmother, Claire's mom. Kudos to the writers for completely misdirecting me with that story line.

*Kate went back to the Island to look for Claire? Bizarre. Especially since, other than Kate helping to birth Aaron (admittedly, that's a pretty big deal), I don't really remember Kate and Claire interacting that much. I mean, I get that Kate, but the time she goes back to the Island, has realized that she won't be able to effectively raise Aaron as her own, but it just kind of rang weird to me. Could Kate's motherly instinct really have kicked into overdrive in her three years with Aaron? I guess so.

*There's some discussion that after Kate left Aaron with Ms. Littleton, and she went to Jack's place in "316," she had her makeout session with Jack with the intention of getting pregnant. In theory, Kate would want to conceive before going back to the Island, so as to not DIE on the Island. The theory continues that because of this, Kate has screwed up baby-having on the Island in the first place. Color me unconvinced. I think it is more likely Kate was so distraught at having left Aaron, and facing going back to somewhere she never wanted to return, that she fell in the arms of the man she truly does love. She had also just been told by Cassidy that Sawyer essentially ditched her, so the love triangle had been broken. I am, however, open to persuasion on this point.

*I knew it! There was no way Little Ben was going to die. I can go along with the idea that Ben's memory was going to be erased in the Temple with whatever juju Richard (and Smokey?) was going to do to him. That leaves one question for me then: How did older Ben know all the Dharma folks, including his father, that he was going to gas in The Purge? Wouldn't the people in Dharmaville wonder where Ben was if he was gone for any amount of time, being that he was bleeding on an operating table? What will Little Ben's disappearance mean for the Lostaways who stole him away into the woods?

*As Back to the Future is, quite literally, my favorite movie of all time, I loved Hurley waiting for his hand to disappear a la Marty McFly. The whole meeting of the minds about time travel and what is and is not possible was great. To me, this was a chance for the writers/producers to recognize that the audience (most often voiced by the character of Hurley) is having the same questions and debates by this point. As well, I think they were saying, "Stick with us. It will all become clear." We did learn one pertinent fact though: the Lostaways can die, permanently, in 1977. As I learned as a theater major, you never introduce a prop on stage that isn't going to be used. Methinks time is short for one of our regulars (no pun intended).

*Eh...new Jack v. old Jack. Thought it was kind of cool he was willing to let Little Ben die. This was clearly new Jack (so much for the Hippocratic Oath) because there is no way the "savior" of old would have let anyone die (hell, he already saved Ben once, albeit due to his desire to save Kate). He was willing to chop off Boone's leg for God's sake! I do miss Jack and his daring-do though. I think the series will not be complete until we see the redemption of Jack Shephard, and I don't think that can happen until he takes control of his life. Obviously, we have a while to go (well, about 22 more hours to go), so hopefully we will see the return of Jack-on-a-mission soon.

*Great closer from Locke, hovering over Ben, "Welcome to the land of the living." Ben looked genuinely shocked to see Locke alive and well. Very cool.

That's about all. Again, not an episode to write home about, but more solid acting performances. Don't forget to check out full recaps from Doc Jensen and Erika. I'll leave my preview of tomorrow night's episode, "Dead Is Dead" (oooh, ominous!) until tomorrow morning. But, all I can say is, BEN!

Namaste.

Fun With Julie Andrews

I love things like this. I was a theater major in college, and one of the subjects I took was Experimental Theater. One topic in that class was on "happenings." Basically, a happening is when a group of performers get together in public and create a performance amidst a crowd who doesn't know what is going on. They are usually a lot of fun, and you can get some of the truest emotional reactions from people. I think we need more happenings in America.

(Hat Tip: Andrew)

Lost - "What Happened, Happened"

Tonight's episode of Lost is entitled "What Happened, Happened." From the title, I assume we will finally be getting some answers as to what the true rules of time travel/space-time continuum/time paradox are on this Island. This is what Faraday told Sawyer a few episodes ago, but is it true? Sawyer also commented in "Namaste" that Faraday has some new theories about what can and cannot happen on the Island. I also assume that this information will be downloaded in the context of Little Ben being shot by Sayid in "He's Our You." Will Jack have to save Ben via surgery again, as he did in Season 3? Methinks we are heading down that road.

Then again, we have been told that this will be a Kate episode. Could it be Kate that actually utters the title? Will she be explaining what happened to Aaron, or whether she could or could not do what Sawyer whispered in her ear in the Season 4 finale? I know I said last week that I was expecting the show to take a leap forward, but I was pretty wrong. I think I will be right this time. Kate-centric episodes have been great in the past, and I fully expect for the streak to continue. Although I would like to see Faraday, Locke and/or Desmond return, I don't have any specific questions or expectations going into tonight's episode, so I'm just going to sit back, relax, and take it all in.

Enjoy.

A Paucity of Posts

I have to apologize to readers of the blog for primarily focusing on Lost and other TV related posts recently. The stated purpose of the blog was to address issues of politics and other current events, as well as entertainment. However, besides spending time trying to find a job which has distracted me from posting, the main topic in the news has been the economy. Now, I like to think I'm a pretty smart guy, despite my third place finish on Jeopardy! (hey, I got two Daily Doubles and the Final Jeopardy right. It's all about the buzzer!). But if there is any topic in the world that I know less than the economy, it may only be the ancient history of the Seychelles (nice flag though!). Seriously, on questions of macroeconomics, and whether the President's plans are appropriate, I haven't the slightest, and any attempt to offer my opinion would be ridiculous.

On that note, however, I will try to get some other posts out there unrelated to Lost, although my next post will be thoughts leading into tonight's episode! Sorry, old habits are hard to break.